I’m calling you out!!!! (How many exclamation marks does it take for you to hear “I love you, man”?) On a roll ... call, I’m listing each and every Sister that joins our Sisterhood movement and the amazing accomplishments of those who earn Merit Badges. “Hear YE!”

Cyrie Wilson (Pixiedustdevil, #6941) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning an Expert Level UFOs Merit Badge!

“I went through my UFO box and weeded out old projects that didn’t interest me anymore, or they had lost irreplaceable pieces. Then I pulled out my bag of chicken potholders, and some jeans that needed patched.

I took about 3 more pairs of jeans and patched/repaired them, using recycled fabric from old jeans. I’m fussy like that; I see no point in tossing clothes if they can be repaired.

Finally, my biggest job was finishing 2 sets of chicken potholders that my sister requested. She requested them a year ago. Shame on me! I finished them in time to give them to her for Thanksgiving.

I’m used to fixing my jeans, especially the corners of the back pockets. One hole even came undone after washing. So I reinforced it with all the powers of ‘overkill’ that I could muster. That solved the problem.

As for the potholders; I’ve made so many that I’m tired of making them, so my sister’s will hopefully be my last for a while. I didn’t really like the colors (I didn’t choose them), but as long as my sister was happy with them, then that’s fine.”

Sherrilyn Askew (#1350) has received a certificate of achievement in Farm Kitchen for earning an Expert Level Unprocessed Kitchen Merit Badge!

“I hosted an “unprocessed” party and helped my sisters discover ways to make some of their favorite processed foods organically, specifically candy canes. Candy is as much art as science, hard candy especially. The key is in the temperature. We did one batch with beet juice and one with cranberry juice, and the color difference, as well as the flavor difference, was significant.

We had a bit of a learning curve about kitchen thermometers (meat thermometer vs. candy thermometer), and the importance of having an accurate one. One batch of candy turned out fine, but the other batch burned. Candy canes with cranberry juice tastes delicious, though.

We talked about divinity and caramels, and the problems encountered making each one (granularity) and how to prevent them.

Candy making is an art, and homemade candy with organic ingredients is the bees’ knees.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring ourSisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 7,200 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—10,226 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

For this week’s Cleaning Up/Home Insulation Expert Level Merit Badge, I went over to my friend, Midge’s, for a little help in her DIY insulation project. Midge is a dear pal, a real bosom friend (to borrow from Anne with an E). She’s my Diana Barry, if you will. But lately, she’d been a little cranky and we thought it was due to her house being haunted. I mean, that will make a gal a bit crabby, can I get an amen?

We assumed her house was haunted due to the fact that she couldn’t keep her bedside candle lit, and doors kept slamming shut. I mean, what else could be the culprit other than the supernatural?

photo by Olybrius via Wikimedia Commons

Oh yeah. Drafty windows and poor insulation. Ahem. I knew that. I had after all, insulated my own drafty house only a couple years before. So, hey, if I can help a girlfriend out and earn an expert level badge all at once, I’m all in.

First, we narrowed down the usual suspects when it came to our haunting windows. It’s good to know, my peeps, that windows installed before the 1980s are rarely insulated properly. And if you get cold feet, like Yours Truly, nearly year ‘round, you might find it is wise to replace your windows, or at least insulate them. You know, instead of owning 11 pairs of fuzzy slippers. *casual whistling … nothing to see here, move along*

Anyway, once we discovered which windows were the worst of the worst (we’re talking a portal to Narnia in terms of sheer winter-ness), we got to work. We needed:

Caulk

Nail gun

Pry bar

Utility knife

Spray insulation (Made specifically for windows and doors. Don’t use a regular expanding foam; it may warp.)

First, feeling rather like the female versions of Ty Pennington and Bob Vila, we used our utility knives to score along the caulking around the window trim. I mean, you can go all Hulk on it, and just pry it off without scoring first, but Midge doesn’t recommend that (she can be a spoilsport that way).

Then, using your pry bar, begin prying up the window trim, a little tiny bit at a time. If you’re like me, you will have lost the pry bar and will need to use a butter knife. Don’t be like me.

There should be tiny nails in the corners that you will need to pry up as well. If there aren’t any, your contractor/builder was shoddy, to say the least. Carefully remove the nails, using your butter knife. I mean, your pry bar or hammer.

There should be about an inch or so of sheetrock visible once you remove the trim. Remove that, being careful in case there are any wires in there (no one needs a DIY home perm, right?).

This is where you will use your handy-dandy spray insulation. Once the foam is dry, you can use your butter knife (I mean, your utility knife) to trim any bubbles off, so it lies nice and flat against the wall.

Treat yourself to some new nails (removing the old ones carefully; this is good time to recall how up-to-date your last tetanus shot was) when you put the trim back up.

photo by Wolfgang Sauber via Wikimedia Commons

Voila! You’ll have an Expert Level Merit Badge, toasty warm feet, and banished ghosts! Not bad for an afternoon of work, don’t you agree?

Cyrie Wilson (Pixiedustdevil, #6941) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level Scrapbooking Merit Badge!

“Instead of making a scrapbook (too expensive!) I made a shadowbox collage. My father and I went to Universal Studios Hollywood and the WB studio tour. We had planned this trip for a year.

I papered over the backing of the frame with acid-free paper, and used acid-free glue and ink. I printed a few photos to wallet size, wrote a few funny stories on labels, and gathered trinkets from the trip.

After assembling the collage, I papered the back and stapled the backing to the frame with a staple gun.

It was difficult to fit so much into such a small collage. There wasn’t even a backboard on the frame, so I had to measure and cut one. Aside from that, it turned out well.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring ourSisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 7,200 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—10,226 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane

Now, we had all gone through rigorous training to bring us to this day. After all, we had baked our way to success (and one or two failures) through the Beginner and Intermediate Level Badges, and so thusly, henceforth, and so on and so forth, forever and ever, amen, we were set.

(My waistline? A whole ‘nother kettle of fish.)

We had made our homemade, from-scratch cakes earlier and then we read through the badge requirements for this, our final cake badge: woe was us … we were supposed to decorate the said cakes and take photos.

Umm, hello? Those cakes had been digested in our tummies for a while now.

So, we did the next best thing, considering the holidays were upon us …

Andy, Nora, Piper, and Jane’s Gingerbread/Pretzel Houses

Supplies suggested:

pretzel rods/sticks (Lots and lots. As the age-old saying goes, one for the house, one for my belly.)

gumdrops (You can buy organic candy here. They even have kosher gummy cubs!)

red-hots

licorice ropes

chocolate rocks

coconut

icing for piping

“cement” for glue

graham crackers

Now, depending on whether you want to eat your creation or just stare lovingly at it all season long, you will want to choose your ingredients accordingly. Piper and I were more about the architecture of the thing and we had our own snack stash nearby, so we skipped the homemade icings and used hot glue. Shh. Don’t tell. Andy and Nora, on the other hand, were all about noshing on their houses like Hansel and Gretel, and so we made sure they got their hands on most of the good-for-you organic treats, and homemade “cement.”

The pretzel sticks/rods are adorbs for making log cabins. Coconut can be edible snow, or can be tinted with green food coloring to make grass. You can also use half-and-half, pint-sized or half-gallon-sized, empty containers for your house frames. Paint, or decoupage, and then add your candy décor. Rock chocolates make excellent chimneys.

photo by Jeff Markham via Wikimedia Commons

We had ourselves a little Christmas village when we were done. Were they cakes necessarily? In the purest sense of the word? Cakes, per se? Okay, maybe not precisely … but what is cake but something that brings people together in the kitchen? And that we did, me and my elves. And I’d say, it was joyful and triumphant.

All proceeds (minus shipping and packing) will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Here’s how:

MaryJane will post a photo of the prop and its cost here along with a few details as to its condition. The first person to call the farm and talk with Brian, 208-882-6819, becomes the new owner of a little bit of herstory. Shipping will be either USPS or UPS, our choice. No returns.